One of the startups attempting to capitalise on this trend is Italy’s Yolo, which provides on-demand and ad hoc digital insurance brokerage services to consumers via an app.

So, for example, Yolo customers can use their smartphones to take out instant and pay per use insurance products: e.g travel insurance for a trip or sports insurance or phone insurance.

It’s one of a range of startups in a similar field. London startup Cuvva allows users to pay for car insurance based on the exact number of hours or days behind the wheel. In the US startups Trōv, Verifly Insurance Services, Metromile, Slice Labs and Sure are all in a similar world.

Founded by Simone Ranucci Brandimarte and Gianluca De Cobelli in 2017, Yolo last year raised a €5m Series A funding round led by the bank Intesa Sanpaolo’s fintech venture fund Neva Finventures.

Yolo is now busy extending the range of insurance products on offer and expanding internationally.

Already a success on the editorial side, Freeda is now looking at a way to build the business. At the moment, it’s main revenue driver is branded content. In the last two years, the company has produced content for more than 200 brands, including Nike, Gucci, Estée Lauder, Shiseido, Dior and Burberry, with campaigns promoting women’s rights and gender equality.

But last year it raised a $16m Series B round led by Alven, a venture capital firm based in Paris, to launch a direct-to-consumer business and ramp up its revenues. You can expect to be able to buy Freeda-branded products, such as streetwear and beauty/personal care, in the second half of 2020. The business is now “analyzing the market trends” in order to roll out a set of products, according to the company.

Freeda is also expanding its reach across Europe, moving beyond its core markets of Italy, Spain and South America and into English-language markets such as the UK. Last year Freeda co-chief executive officers and founders Andrea Calderini and Gianluigi Casole said operating in the UK “is a fundamental step” in the mission to make Freeda “the most relevant female media brand worldwide.”

Its retail business buys second-hand cars, fixes them up, and sells them on its platform. The car-as-a-service option allows users to rent some cars long-term through a package that includes financing, delivery, and maintenance.

The startup, which was founded in 2017, is notable in part because of its big-name backers, last year winning €20m in a funding round led by heavy-hitting venture capital fund Accel.

At the time Francesco Banfi, the Brumbrum founder and CEO, said: “The car market has long been broken and needs to evolve, so we’re building Brumbrum to be the brand of choice in automotive retail.”

He is not wrong. The broader trend is a rising demand for consumers looking to rent cars (by the hour, week, month or year) more than buy them outright. Similarly, the process of buying a car is still far less digital than other retail sectors.

Elsewhere in Europe, Alex Chesterman, who founded house-hunting hub Zoopla, has a new venture in a similar world called Cazoo, which will allow users to buy, rent or finance a pre-owned car and have it delivered in as little as 48 hours.

Auto 1, Berlin-based used-car marketplace, has taken in €460m from Japanese conglomerate Softbank and since launching in 2012 has expanded into more than 30 countries.